Lubricating oils



Patented Mar. 16, 1937 PATENT OFFICE l LUBRICATING OILS Leo Liberthson, New York, N. Y., assignor to L.

Sonneborn Sons, Inc., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing.

Application October 2, 1934,

- v Serial No. 746,514

Claims.

This invention relates to improved lubricating oils and a process of preparing same, and especially to lubricating oils having a low pour point and being substantially non-emulsifiable.

5 Lubricating oils, and especially lubricating oils containing wax or waxy hydrocarbons in solution tend to have a high pour point. In the case of lubricating oils containing wax or waxy hydrocarbons, the latter compounds have a tendency to precipitate when the oil is cooled, thereby causing the oilto set or gel, and causing the oil to flow sluggishly or not at all. Lubricating oil distillates derived entirely or principally from the distillation of so-called Pennsylvania crude oil belong generally to the waxy class mentioned.

It is known that the addition of small amounts of voltol (an oil which has been polymerized by the action of a silent electrical discharge) to a lubricating oil will lower the normal pour point of such oil. However, the presence of such voltol in lubricating oils is in many cases disadvantageous in one important respect, viz.; the tendency of such a mixture to permanently emulsify with water. When such a mixture is used as a lubricating oil in apparatus where it comes in contact with water, for example, in a turbine or in a crank-case, the mixture forms an emulsion with the water, which raises the pour point of the lubricant and gives poor lubrication.

This tendency to emulsify is due tothe fact that voltol is in reality a blend of mineral and vegetable oil, such blend having been found to be infinitely more susceptible to polymerization by means of a silent electrical discharge than mineral oil alone. The mineral oil can be designated as the unsaponifiable component and the vegetable oil as the saponifiable component of the original voltol.

I have discovered that if the unsaponifiable component of voltol is isolated from the voltol, such component may be added to a lubricating oil to lower its pour point without the disadvantages attending the use of the original voltol. This may be understood from the behavior of the so modified oil by subjecting it to the well known A. S. T. M. demulsibility test. In this test, steam is conductedinto a definite amount of oil and permitted to condense for a definite period of time. The mixture of oil and condensate should then separate into two layers within a specified time of not more than ten minutes.

Two different types of voltol, differing only in therelative proportions of mineral oil to vege- 55 table oil,- were treated according to this invention; one a Belgian voltol soldunder the trade name of Electrion and a second, German voltol, designated End voltol. The physical characteristics of these two voltols are as follows:

EIecti-ion" End voltol" Gravity 23.1 A. P. Il 18.3 A. Pv I. Vis. Saybolt 210 F 975 sec Pour test 4 15 F Flash point 400. Fire poin 445. golort(Lovibond 20 yellow 14 red yz".

y- Alkalinity Iodine value. 17.8. Sapouiflcatwn N 10.0. Ash

Each of these voltols was treated according to the well known Spitz-Hoenig method, which consists in treating a mixture of mineral and vegetable oil with alkali to saponify the fat, adding suflicient 50% alcohol to dissolve the soap formed, 7

adding a, light petroleum solvent such as benzine, shaking and allowing the mass to separate into two layers, a bottom layer of aqueous alcoholic solution of soap and an upper layer of a benzine solution of mineral oil, from which mineral oil can be isolated by distilling oil? the benzine. In applying this method to the above voltols a mineral oil was obtained having the following char- .When 1% of this unsaponiflable oil was added to a waxy lubricating oil of Pennsylvania origin, having a normal pour point of 25 to 30 F., the

pour point of the mixture was lowered to 5 F.

and demulsification (according to the A. S. T. M. demulsibility test) took place in about 30 seconds. With original voltol and the above lubricating oil, the pourpoint of the mixture was also 5 F., but a permanent emulsion was formed when subjected to the A. S. T. M. test.

In the case of an oil containing wax or a waxy hydrocarbon, the amount of unsaponifiable constituent of voltol to be added will vary from 0.2 up to 10% of the total and will, in general, be sufficient to produce a reduction in pour test or pour point oI-from 10 to 50 F. Within these limits An S. A. E. 40 blend of Pennsylvania residual and neutral oils having:

Specific gravity 28 A. P. I. Viscosity (Say.) at 210 F--. 79 sec. Flash point 450 F. Fire point 515 F. Color (Lovibond) 20 yellow 38 red Pour point 25 F.

When 0.5, 1, 5 and of ordinary voltol were added, the pour points of the mixtures were lowered to 10, 5, 10, and 10 F. respectively, the other factors remaining substantially the same. Demulsibility tests of the mixtures however were all above ten minutes. With the same amounts of unsaponifiable voltol, the same lowering of the pour points resulted, but in each of the latter cases, demulsibility occurred in less than one minute.

A Pennsylvania distillate having:

Specific gravity 29 A. P. I. Viscosity (Say.) at 210 200-205 sec. Flash point 420 F.

Fire point 470 F. Pour point 30-35 F.

When 0.5 1, 5 and 10% of ordinary voltol were added, the pour points of the mixtures were lowered to 5, 5, 10 and 10 F. respectively, the other factors remaining substantially the same. Similar pour point depressing values were obtained with similar amounts of unsaponifiable voltol. However, with ordinary voltol, demulsibility tests were over ten minutes, while with unsaponifiable voltol, demulsibility occurred in less than one minute.

A Pennsylvania distillate having:

Specific gravity 30 A. P. I. Viscosity (Say.) at 210 F 145-150 sec.. Flash point 405 F.

F'lre point -L 460 F. Pour point 10 F.

With 0.5, 1, 5 and 10% of ordinary voltol, the pour points of the mixtures were lowered to --5, 15, and 25 F. respectively, the other factors remaining substantially, the same. Demulsibility tests of the -mixtures in each case, however, were above ten minutes. With similar amounts of unsaponifiable voltol, similar lowering of the pour points resulted, but in each case demulsibility occurred in less than one minute.

I have suspected that emulsification with ordinary voltol is due to the higher polymers resulting from the electrical treatment by which the voltol is produced, and this suspicion is more or less confirmed by the presence of difiicultly soluble matter which is found between the benzine and alcoholic layers in the Spitz-Hoenlg treatment. This matter is a yellow, gelatinous rubbery substance, diflicultly soluble in oil, but sufficiently so to give a permanent emulsion when its solution in oil is mixed with water. However, I do not wish to be limited to any theory as to the identity of the emulsifying agent or to the cause of emulsification of the ordinary voltol.

My invention includes all lubricating oils containing wax or crystallizable hydrocarbons, and I claim broadly a lubricating oil having a normal pour point and containing the unsaponifiable constituent of voltol in amount and potency sufficient to reduce the normal pour point of the lubricating oil, the product having good demulsibility and substantially the same viscosity as the -Iubricating oil. By good demulsibility I mean a product which, when subjected to the A. S. T. M. demulsibility test, will separate into two well defined layers in less than ten minutes.

I claim:

1. Av product comprising a lubricating oil having a pour point. caused by wax therein, and up to about 10% of the unsaponifiable constituent of a polymerized oil of potency suflicient to appreciably reduce the normal pour point of said lubricating oil, said polymerized oil being prepared by the action of a silent electrical discharge, said product being substantially nonemulsifiable.

2. A product comprising a lubricating oil having a pour point caused by wax therein, and up to about 10% of the unsaponifiable constituent of apolymerized oil of potency suificient to reduce the normal pour point of said lubricating oil at least 10 F., said polymerized oil being pre- 2 pared by the action of a silent electrical discharge, said product being substantially nonemulsifiable.

3. A product comprising a lubricating oil having a pour point of at least 10 F. caused by wax therein, and up to about 10% of the unsaponifiable constituent of a polymerized oil of potency sufiicient to reduce the normal'pour point of said lubricating oil at least 10 F., said polymerized oil being prepared by the action of a silent electrical discharge, said product being substantially non-emulsifiable.

4. A product comprising a petroleum lubricating oil distillate having a pour point caused by wax therein, and up to about 10% of the unsaponified constituent of a polymerized oil of potency sufiicient to appreciably reduce the normal pour point of said distillate, said polymerized oil being prepared by the action of a silent electrical discharge, said product being substantially non-emulsifiable.

5. A product comprising a petroleum lubricating oil distillate having a pour point of at least 10 F. caused by wax therein, and up to about 10% of the unsaponifiable constituent of a polymerized oil of potency sufiicient to reduce the normal pour point of said distillate at least 10 F., said polymerized oil being prepared by the action of a silent electrical discharge, said product being substantially non-emulsifiable.

LEO LIBERTHSON. 

